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Elliott Sober: Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory

Elliott Sober: Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory Acta Biotheor (2012) 60:323–328 DOI 10.1007/s10441-012-9151-7 BOOK REVIEW Elliott Sober: Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2011, 230 pp, ISBN 978-1-61614-230-8 Raphael Scholl Received: 7 February 2012 / Accepted: 13 February 2012 / Published online: 7 April 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Did Darwin write the Origin backwards? This is the title and initial question of a new book by Elliott Sober, who joins topics from current philosophy of biology with the historical analysis of Charles Darwin’s writings. Since good history and good philosophy of science often walk hand in hand, Sober’s approach is highly welcome. The book has four chapters and three long postscripts, which amount to a fifth chapter. I will discuss them in order. The first chapter is based on a recent Darwin-year paper (Sober 2009). Sober considers the question of why Darwin, in the Origin of Species (1859), presented natural selection first and common descent second. The choice is not at all obvious. Darwin intended to convince readers first and foremost of the factuality of evolution; that is, of descent with modification. As Sober points out, this is logically independent of the mechanism of modification: http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Acta Biotheoretica Springer Journals

Elliott Sober: Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory

Scholl, Raphael
Acta Biotheoretica , Volume 60 (3) – Apr 7, 2012
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References (14)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Subject
Philosophy; Philosophy of Biology; Evolutionary Biology
ISSN
0001-5342
eISSN
1572-8358
DOI
10.1007/s10441-012-9151-7
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Acta Biotheor (2012) 60:323–328 DOI 10.1007/s10441-012-9151-7 BOOK REVIEW Elliott Sober: Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2011, 230 pp, ISBN 978-1-61614-230-8 Raphael Scholl Received: 7 February 2012 / Accepted: 13 February 2012 / Published online: 7 April 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Did Darwin write the Origin backwards? This is the title and initial question of a new book by Elliott Sober, who joins topics from current philosophy of biology with the historical analysis of Charles Darwin’s writings. Since good history and good philosophy of science often walk hand in hand, Sober’s approach is highly welcome. The book has four chapters and three long postscripts, which amount to a fifth chapter. I will discuss them in order. The first chapter is based on a recent Darwin-year paper (Sober 2009). Sober considers the question of why Darwin, in the Origin of Species (1859), presented natural selection first and common descent second. The choice is not at all obvious. Darwin intended to convince readers first and foremost of the factuality of evolution; that is, of descent with modification. As Sober points out, this is logically independent of the mechanism of modification:

Journal

Acta Biotheoretica – Springer Journals

Published: Apr 7, 2012

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